Coal City – Judah Price hoped to establish a new single-game rushing record when his Patriots traveled to Shady Spring on Friday.
His predecessor Atticus Goodson set the program mark against the Tigers last season with 318 yards rushing but Price fell short of that mark. So he instead made history in a different way.
Price finished with 15 carries for 257 yards, scoring six rushing touchdowns to go along with two catches for 63 yards. He also added seven two-point conversions bringing his scoring total to 56 points, establishing a new school record for most points in a game at Independence.
For his accomplishments, Price has been named the Week 4 Lootpress Player of the Week by the Lootpress sportswriters.
The award is sponsored by Bodyworks, the Law Offices of Brandon Steele, InShapeWV and Mid-State Ford.
Price wasn’t aware of what he accomplished until later in the weekend but it left him speechless knowing he’d secured a special spot in program history.
“It’s hard to wrap my head around a school record and close to a state record,” Price said. “It really opens my eyes up and should open the state’s eyes up. I’ve had a couple of days to think about it and it’s really awesome. I feel like the whole team is behind my back on this and they’ve all congratulated me on everything and it’s all been special.”
As excited as Price is for his personal success, he fully understands it’s only possible because of a team that executes and buys in to the culture established. With the Tigers keying in on wide receiver Cyrus Goodson, Price was afforded more opportunities and made the most of them. To show his appreciation he’s made a promise to reward his teammates with donuts for each 200-yard rushing performance he has, further affirming his willingness to share his success.
“We’ve always been really been real close together but it’s gotten even better this year,” Price said. “I think a lot of that is because of Coach (John H.) Lilly and the Patriot Glow. The Patriot Glow is you glowing up your teammate and we all do that. Everybody does something every game. We all take it to heart.”
Of Price’s 24 touches on Friday, he has a favorite, one that required strong execution from his teammates.
“It was probably the 50-yard run,” Price said. “I made a couple of nice cuts and the line had a couple of nice pancakes too.”
The cuts are nothing new for Price who was a first-team all-stater a year ago as a utility player but he’s had to improve as a running back, taking over the primary workload at the position. Smaller in stature, Price has sharpened his tools to pick up where he left off last year.
“I feel like my vision in the field has gotten better,” Price said. “From the scrimmage against Hoover to now I understand that instead of being out wide I’m in the backfield and I know what the line’s going to do and where the sniffer’s going to block and how they’re turning their head, hips and shoulders.”
Price hopes the record performances keep rolling in though the Patriots are aiming for a goal greater than any individual performance. But he’ll still relish this one.
“It took me a minute to understand what I did,” Price said. “I didn’t realize I had scored that many points and I didn’t even know until some other guys on the team told me and it’s surreal really. I can’t really wrap my mind around it.”
Price will be invited to and honored at the Lootpress Fall Sports Banquet later this year.
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Summers County running back Drake Cole won the fan vote with 22,145 votes, over 37 percent of the total vote tally. In an effort to reward communities for their diligence in voting for their respective players, Lootpress will take the top vote getter each week and advance them to the pool of candidates for the newly created Community Choice Player of the Year. When the regular season concludes, the 11 players that led in total votes their respective weeks will be grouped into a poll where everyone can vote on one player to win the award as well as the $500 scholarship that comes with it.
2022 Player of the Week Winners
Week 1: Kaiden Vance, Westside
Week 2: Darmonte Mitchell, Beckley
Week 3: Ian Cline, Greenbrier East
Week 4: Judah Price, Independence
2022 Community Choice Winners
Week 1: Cooper Ridgeway, James Monroe
Week 2: Layton Dowdy, James Monroe
Week 3: Khamrin Proffitt, Princeton
Week 4: Drake Cole, Summers County
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
